


Of Desk Chairs and Photocopiers

by brittaniethekid



Category: CW Network RPF, Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Office, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-11
Updated: 2012-11-11
Packaged: 2017-11-18 09:42:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/559587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brittaniethekid/pseuds/brittaniethekid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared is an office worker starting to feel the monotony get to him when he's assigned to shadow a new hire, Jensen Ackles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Desk Chairs and Photocopiers

**Author's Note:**

> Another piece I wrote in 2009.   
> Inspired by the film "Office Space" but that's as far as the relationship goes. Was supposed to be longer with a lot more porn but I got bored. Heh.

Jared settles back in his chair, fingers laced behind his head. His eyes are swimming from staring at the computer screen and the blinking cursor has been taunting him for far too long. He's had the words swimming around in his head for hours but he can't make them go from there through his fingers onto the screen. The deadline is coming up far too fast and he's resigned that it's a lost cause.  
"Padalecki!" Jared groans before the shout finishes and sits up to prepare for the onslaught.  
"Got that report done yet? I have a couple more assignments with your name on them if you can get it onto my desk by the end of the day! Remember, constant vigilance! Ha ha!"  
Jared stares up into his bosses face and smiles but it feels plastic and hurts a little. It must do the trick, though, because Reckner gives him a wide grin back, just as fake, and keeps moving to yell at another cubicle drone.  
Jared heaves a sigh and settles back in his chair, closing his eyes. The cursor keeps on its incessant blinking.

*

Jensen walks into the front office, adjusting his tie. He hasn't worn one in awhile and it's stifling to be dressed up in the Texas summer heat. The office air is almost too cold after being outside and it makes him shiver as the sweat cools on his back.  
The receptionist is small and frail looking, the headpiece she's wearing almost too big for her but her over-done hair makes up for it. Jensen taps his fingers on the desk and she looks up. Without smiling, she tells him to sign his name on the guest sheet and have a seat. If her attitude is any indication, Jensen thinks, this is the place where dreams go to die. Good thing his have long since been buried.  
The chairs are nondescript and entirely uncomfortable. The magazine collection that litters the coffee table is outdated and things that he would never read in any other given situation like _Parenting_ or _Better Homes and Gardens_. Right when he's about to get to the best part of cooking salmon fillets with a honey and pecan glaze, he hears a man walk up and clear his throat.  
He looks up at a man so nondescript the chairs must be jealous at the competition and stands. The man is holding out his hand with a smile reminiscent of The Joker in all the Batman comics Jensen loved to read as a kid.  
"You must be Jensen Ackles. Welcome to Cooper Industries! I'm the head honcho here, Jonathan Reckner, but you can just call me Jon. Ha ha!"  
The man is holding out his hand to Jensen and when Jensen finally grips it, the handshake is loose and stilted. Jensen's dad always said you can learn a lot about a man through his handshake and this is no exception. This man, Reckner, is a complete tool. Jensen tries to smile but feels a grimace light his features instead and Reckner pulls his hand back to set it on Jensen's shoulder. It takes all of Jensen's willpower not to flinch back at the touch.  
"Let's get you settled in here, Ackles, and you can start making me money! Ha ha! Just kidding of course! We here at Cooper Industries live by the popular phrase 'there is no I in team'. Be sure to live by that yourself and you'll have a great time here!"  
Jensen doesn't believe him.

*

Jared unbends from getting water from the cooler, sighing as his back crackles. They really need water coolers bigger than midget size. He's about to take a drink from his cup when he hears "Padalecki!" from down the hall. He starts and spills some of the water down his front. With a long winded sigh he turns around and forgets to breathe back in.  
The man standing beside Reckner is gorgeous. Jared takes in the chestnut hair that's a little too long and spiked forward over impossibly green eyes with thick lashes. He thinks idly about how long it would take to count all the freckles over the bridge of the guy's nose when Reckner's voice filters through his thoughts, bringing him back.  
"I'm sorry, what?"  
"This is Jensen Ackles. He's starting here today and is going to be on your team. Ha ha! If you could just show him around and help him get a handle on things, that'd be great." Reckner shakes Jensen a little by the shoulder, gives them both a wide smile, and walks off leaving the two men staring at each other.  
"Uh. Hi." Jared feels his face heat up and looks down at his shirt, cussing under his breath at the large spread of water over his tie. _Way to be awesome, Padalecki_ , he thinks.  
"Hi. There's water on your shirt, did you know?"  
Jared looks back up at the guy – _JensenJensenJensen_ , he repeats to himself in his head – and coughs into his hand, eyes looking anywhere but at Jensen. "Uh, yeah. Not so unusual around here, actually. Um. Anyway." Jared starts walking back into the office area and makes a hand gesture for Jensen to follow.  
He watches out of the corner of his eye as Jensen looks around, almost with bewilderment, at the giant office full of grey cubicles.  
Jared remembers from his own first day at Cooper Industries how intimidating and daunting this place can look to the newbie. He looks over and gives Jensen what he hopes to be a completely sincere smile, trying to reassure him. Jared hates his job and hates this place but thinks that maybe it might not be so bad after today if he gets to have Jensen to occupy his time.

*

Jensen zones out after a few minutes of listening to Reckner babble on and on about perseverance and teamwork. If he hears the man laugh at one of his own lame jokes one more time, he going to become a statistic and hang himself in the mailroom.  
He's about to excuse himself and head for freedom via the bathroom when Reckner points out the man who's going to train him.  
"Jared Padalecki is one of the best and brightest I have on staff right now! Since you guys are both younger, I thought you would make a great team. Ha ha!" Jensen doesn't hear anything after _Jared Padalecki_ though since he's too busy staring at Jared's ass. Reckner's "Padalecki!" makes the man jump and turn around and Jensen feels his heart skip to find that the front is just as _glorious_ as the back.  
As Jensen walks up to Jared, their eyes meet and Jensen watches the blush creep up Jared's neck. Jared doesn't look away though his eyes seem glazed over and unfocused. Jensen grins and thinks about how that long neck would sizzle under his tongue. He adjusts his stance to relieve some of the not entirely unwelcome pressure in his boxers and flinches when Reckner gives his shoulder a squeeze. Finally, his shoulder is released and Reckner walks off, a fake smile thrown back at them.  
Jared stumbles over some words and walks towards the office area, waving his hand at Jensen. Jensen feels a little brushed off and ruffles but follows the man so he doesn't get lost. The office area is much bigger than he thought from the looks of the outside of the building and he can't help but look around with wide eyes. He can see the tops of heads bobbing and looks into different cubicles as they walk by, noting how different each person seems through their tacked up photos of children and cats while at the same time seeming all exactly the same.  
Jared must have seen something in Jensen's expression because he slows a bit and smiles wide and genuine at Jensen and Jensen can't help but smile right back. It's the sexiest smile Jensen's ever seen and the brush off from minutes before is forgotten. He hopes that he will get the chance to see Jared Padalecki smile at him like that again but for an entirely different – and much more intimate – reason sooner than later.

*

Jared hates his life. He thinks that might be a little dramatic and amends that maybe he just hates his job, but it pays well and he'd really like to be able to pay for college sometime before he hits thirty. He's been sitting here showing Jensen just how boring his life can be too for about two hours when Chad Murray from accounting comes up and leans against the cubicle's entrance.  
"Jay-bird, my man. You going to Sandy's party this weekend? It's going to be off the hook!"  
Jared just stares at him, trying to figure out if he really, truly just said _off the hook_.  
"Dude! I bet there are going to be lots of her _layday_ friends there that wouldn't mind being shown our better halves, if you know what I mean, right? High five!" He wiggles his eyebrows and grabs his crotch to accentuate his point, just in case Jared didn't catch the innuendo.  
Jared groans and tries to contain his urge to bash his face into the monitor, or maybe just bash in Chad's face. With the monitor. He looks over to Jensen with an apologetic smile and finds that the guy isn't even awake. He doesn't know whether to be offended or just jealous.  
"I think you bored your friend here to death. Literally. _Ha ha!_ " Jared can't help but smile at Rob's spot-on impersonation of Reckner.  
"Are we still going to Smitty's tonight? If Jensen here is still with the living, I was going to invite him along."  
"Nah man, I gots me a hot date. I finally asked Sophia in packaging if she'd have dinner with me. Can you believe she said yes?"  
Jared really can't.

*

Jensen wakes to Jared's hand heavy on his knee.  
"Dude, wake up. Reckner does rounds right after lunch because it's the prime time to doze off. At least you got in your nap early, eh?"  
Jensen snorts a laugh and sits up before noticing the half eaten sandwich and can of soda in front of Jared. "Wait, you let me sleep through lunch?"  
"Sorry, man. But, no worries, I got you some stuff." Jared tosses him a bag of chips and a soda. "And, hey, I figured I could buy you some dinner at Smitty's tonight to make up for it. I mean. You know. If you want to. Um. Havedinnerwithme." Jared swivels his chair around so his back is to Jensen and coughs, but not before Jensen spotted that enticing blush creep out of his collar.  
"Sure, man. I'd love to." Jensen opens the bag and smiles around a handful of chips. He didn't even have to try.

*

Smitty's is a chain restaurant that has two Happy Hours with half-price appetizers and some of the best fries Jared's ever had. The people at work eat here because it's cheap and pretty casual. The wait staff has the most ridiculous uniforms with suspenders covered in pins but is always really nice. Especially _Shelly_.  
As soon as Jared and Jensen walk in, Shelly spots them and Jared groans, hoping he doesn't get seated in her section. She's always overeager when taking his order, leaning on the table so he has a clear view down her shirt and even once "accidentally" spilled some of his drink into his lap and proceeded to clean it up with a napkin, just like in crappy rom-com movies. Jared doesn't think he's ever given her any encouragement but she never relents.  
Of course, they get seated in her section. The Gods aren't smiling down on him today, they're laughing. And possibly pointing. With rude gestures.  
"Oh, _hello_ Jared. And who's this tall, dark, and handsome you have with you?"  
Jared tries to psychically alert Jensen to the danger he's about to face but Jensen obviously doesn't get the message because he flashes Shelly one of his muscle melting smiles and introduces himself.  
"Where've you been keeping this one locked up, Jared? He could be on the menu underneath House Favorites with one of those bitty chili peppers by his name indicating _hot and spicy_." She practically leers at Jensen and winks but Jensen just keeps smiling at her.  
Jared clears his throat dramatically to get her attention and orders. "I'll just have the Smitty's Burger, medium rare, and an appeltini."  
Jensen raises an eyebrow at him and orders a sirloin with baked potato and a beer. After Shelly walks off with their orders and a pout, Jensen shakes his head and says, "You forgot to say 'shaken, not stirred,' Mr. Bond."  
"What? I like them. They're… tangy. I don't know. Beer is too heavy to drink with a good size burger."  
Jensen laughs at that and Jared thinks it's the best sound in the world.  
Shelly comes back with their drinks and, later, their food. Jared finds the conversation flows easily between him and Jensen. He finds out they're both born-and-raised Texan, both prefer gummy bears over gummy worms but will take those blue gummy sharks with the cream underneath over both, and neither can decide on a favorite sports team but both love a good Willie Nelson song. He also finds he likes Jensen a lot. _A lot_ a lot.  
A few more appeltinis and a lot of bad jokes later and Jared decides that it's time to go home but can't remember where he parked his car. Jensen makes fun of him for being such a lightweight but offers to give him a ride home, "As long as you can remember how to get there." Jared doesn't feel bad about the teasing because Jensen says it with a laugh. Jared loves that laugh.

*

Jensen walks with Jared up to his door. Jared figures it's just to make sure he doesn't fall on his face and he ignores the heavy beating of his heart against his ribs. He doesn't even know if Jensen swings that way but a big piece of him hopes.  
Jared gets his door unlocked and turns to lean on the door frame but slips a little, teetering forward, and Jensen catches him. With Jensen's hand and chest warm against his own, Jared forgets about breathing all together and just stares into Jensen's eyes. He's reminded of summer skies and smiles, wishing he was eight again with a new kite and all the time in the world to fly it. He can't help but grin like an idiot.  
Jensen clears his throat and pushes Jared back against the door frame, giving Jared's chest a pat before turning back to get in his car. Jared takes a deep breath and closes the door behind him, making it the few steps inside before heavily falling onto the couch in the living room. He flips on his back and absently scratches his crotch, groaning when the fabric rubs just right and thinks back to Jensen's face.  
It's going to be a long night.


End file.
